Former police officer continues cancer fight

Three years after being diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma, former Columbia Police officer Buddy Boane continues to combat cancer in the hospital and on the road for all.

After two surgeries and months of infusion therapy, Boane and his wife, Tina, made the trip to the Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt Medical Center last week to begin a new treatment process. The law enforcement officer for four decades is taking on the disease for the fourth time.

Despite three years of ups and downs and multiple close calls, the two had a calm demeanor as they waited to meet with oncology and cancer specialist Dr. Douglas Johnson and nurse practitioner Debbie Wallace.

“I am anxious just to see what its going to be like,” Boane said, leaning on the medical examination table inside the tan room. “I'm wondering what the side effects might be like.”

His new treatment, IMLYGIC, recently was approved by the Federal Drug Administration specifically for melanoma. It is a genetically modified oncolytic viral therapy designed to neutralize cancer cells through local injections, mixing the patient's blood with the serum to ensure the medication is not rejected.

The new drug was advised to Boane by his doctors after his previous treatment left his kidneys severely damaged.

After the diagnosis, Boane's hearing also has dramatically been reduced, requiring him to wear hearing aids in both ears. And despite consistently training and staying in good shape throughout his life, he has become diabetic.

As he mentally prepared himself for the coming treatment, his thoughts continually returned to his other primary goal — to bike 545 miles across the state of Tennessee — from Kingsport to Memphis — promoting awareness for melanoma and launching a foundation to help lighten the financial burdens put on families affected by cancer.

Boane shared his meticulously planned route and its scheduled stops at local restaurants and hotels that have pledged to assist him on his journey.

“I am going to do this bicycle ride; I am going to do it even if it kills me,” Boane said.

One of his first questions to his physicians that day was how long it would be before he could return to the gym.

The answer, not long.

“The main thing is to never give up, and that is what I have been taught all my life,” Boane said. “You just don't give up, you keep on at it. We keep a positive attitude no matter what. It is in God's hands. It's very important to keep that faith base going.”

Boane says fighting his disease is 80 percent dependent on positive attitude and 20 percent reliant on the good work of doctors and medical practitioners.

“Having a good group of people you can talk to — and keep that positive attitude — is what keeps us playing,” Boane said.

On Sunday May 14, Mother's Day, Boane will begin his tour in East Tennessee, followed by his wife carrying additional supplies by car.

“One person dies every hour of every day from melanoma cancer,” he said, before the meeting. “This is about making people aware of this disease and letting them know that we are starting this organization to help.”

Boane said his pharmacists have estimated that his treatments and medicines have cost well over $1 million.

Even though a majority of his medical bills are covered by insurance through the now-contested Affordable Care Act, Boane, who is retired from the police force, and Tina, a clerk and secretary at Rippey Auto Parts Industrial in Columbia, have struggled to keep up with their regular bills.

Since the diagnosis, the two have had trouble making regular payments to keep their home and two cars. The situation was especially difficult because the treatment process and the toll on his body have put Boane out of work from his job at Columbia's Belk department store, where he was organizing and unloading products on its loading dock.

In the first six months of having cancer, his entire retirement fund was gone.

The Boanes were falling through the cracks, still making too much to receive relief from the government or a local support organization, but unable to afford their normal expenses.

Because a portion of his heel was removed where the cancer first began, he will not be able to return to the labor intensive position.

However, with some assistance, their finances remain stable but very tight, and an unexpected car repair could still be the difference between making it and not.

Both Boane and his wife agree that if it wasn't for their church, family and friends they would be in a much more difficult situation.

“It's hard on everybody involved and it becomes very stressful,” Tina Boane said when they first became a single income household. “Things are twice as hard as they used to be when you develop a disease like this. Thank God we had family and friends to help. It's still mentally stressful to know that every time he goes to get a scan, something might pop up. It's the not knowing if this is going to work that takes a toll.”

Now, still unsure how successful the new treatment will be, Boane remains determined to establish a nonprofit support network for others in need. The organization will stand for those individuals who might fall even further into those same cracks without a family, church or friends to hold them up.

His vision for the organization is that participants of the foundation will submit a letter with a copy of the bill they need help with and then, following approval, the money will be given to the individual in need.

Still in its infancy, the program, appropriately named “Help a Buddy Fight Cancer,” can be visited on Boane's own website, https://helpbuddyfightcancer.org/.

A blog on the site also allows visitors to keep up with the progress of Boane's health and the development of the new organization.

“We are more aware that people need help out there than what there used to be,” Boane said. “In this run-all-day, fast-paced world out there you need to slow down and recognize who you can help.”

Since he first shared the news of the tour and his organization, Boane has gained the sponsorship of local politicians and businesses including state Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia; Harvey's Gym; Better Built Transmissions & Air Conditioning Service; Tennstar Automotive; and Music City Automotive.

“Just never give up,” Boane said in a message to fellow patients of the disease. “Cancer affects you physically, it affects you mentally and it affects you financially. Most people are not ready for those, and I hope to help with at least two of those things.”

For Boane, his battle with cancer has stirred a change and implanted a desire to live a fuller life, altering the very definition of what it means to do so, acting as the catalyst for himself and Tina to develop a deeper, stronger relationship.

“You realize that the most valuable thing you have is time, not your work, not your money, but your time. You have got to use that time God has given you and use it to the best of your abilities. The better you are at using that time the better you are at conquering this thing.”